“Okay, ladies, let’s line up!” Coach Anna’s shout ricocheted off the walls of the Emerald Gymnastics Academy gymnasium, multiplying until there seemed to be not one coach, but dozens. Jenny snapped out of thoughts and dreams of her unintentionally cross-dressing boyfriend and darted forward with the other gymnasts. Dozens of pairs of bare feet, her own among them, slapped the blue foam mat as the girls rushed to take their positions in a blur of pumping limbs, bouncing hair, and brightly colored leotards.

After having an okay Day at School all I wanted to do on my March break was sit around and play my X-Box.I opened the door and went inside and looked around then blinked. My Sister Tammy was on the couch wearing a Leo cuddling with my Mom.

Jenny shivered in the cold draft wafting through the Emerald Gymnastics Center gymnasium and hugged herself, tracing and stroking her bare hands, peppered with white gymnastics chalk, over equally bare and chalky arms and shoulders, legs and knees, then trying to rub some warmth into the white-powdered soles of her bare feet, then coming back to rest on the soft, smooth, form-fitting Lycra of her sleeveless gymnastics leotard.